Description
With a CNC machine we can definitely equip the spindle with a drill bit and drill directly into the stock...
But in many cases, the better operation is to move an end mill smaller than the hole in circles, and step down to the hole bottom. KM does this with roughing commands, I have yet to figure out how to use the drill command as I can't seem to select the hole to drill.
edit - I forgot to say that the roughing command does not spiral, it creates concentric 2D circular toolpaths and steps in one stepover at a time, and when complete at that Z depth it steps down one step and continues.
I think it would be very useful if, under the drill operation, we had the ability to select the bottom face of the hole and tell KM what tool is in the spindle, and it would allow us to select a "spiral/helical interpolated drilling" operation and also allow us to select outside > inside or vice versa.
So, put simply, if:
hole diameter is < tool diameter = No operation
hole diameter is > tool diameter but ALSO < tool stepover + tool diameter = allow helical interpolation of the tool path
hole diameter is > tool diameter but ALSO > stepover + tool diameter = Helical interpolated tool path for outer boundary to stepdown depth, spiral clearance of that area, then either easedown one step and spiral back out or travel back to outer edge, easedown and spiral back in.
IF this was implemented, it would even become possible to cut internal or external threads (with the correct threadcutting tool) as the helical path could be adjusted to match thread pitch and tooth depth.
Note; I am in no way a programmer nor do I understand how the software is programmed to generate toolpaths. If I was able to understand how to tell it to generate a helical path, I would be happy to develop the tool/interface to allow the expansion of the future drilling / threading operations.